Recommending media items based on take rate signals

ABSTRACT

In an approach, a method comprises using a server computer in a media content delivery system that is configured to selectively deliver a particular media title from among a library of titles, for a source title, generating title data that specifies an order of a plurality of titles that are related to the source title based on a plurality of stored probability values; wherein each probability value in the plurality of probability values represents, for each particular title of the plurality of titles, a likelihood of selecting the particular title after playing the source title; using the server computer, receiving title impression data, wherein the title impression data specifies a plurality of browsed titles that were browsed from among the plurality of titles but may have not been selected for interaction; using the server computer, receiving title interaction data, wherein the title interaction data specifies a plurality of selected titles that were selected for interaction from the plurality of browsed titles; based on the title interaction data, the title impression data and a statistical model, re-calculating the plurality of probabilities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of the co-pending U.S. patentapplication titled, “RECOMMENDING MEDIA ITEMS BASED ON TAKE RATESIGNALS,” filed on Apr. 22, 2016 and having application Ser. No.15/136,846, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application titled,“RECOMMENDING MEDIA ITEMS BASED ON TAKE RATE SIGNALS,” filed on Apr. 23,2014 and having application Ser. No. 14/259,784. The subject matter ofthese related applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to computer-based techniquesfor generating contextual content recommendations in various kinds ofcontent distribution systems. The disclosure relates more specificallyto recommendation systems that employ techniques for recommending titlesbased on title take rate signals computed from data obtained from clientcomputers of users of the systems.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

Content Distribution Systems

Content distribution systems offer a large variety of media items to theuser for viewing. To enhance the user experience, content distributionsystems may provide personal media recommendations to the individualuser. One approach to recommending a media item involves determiningmedia items of interest to the individual user based on the preferencesof similar users using collaborative filtering or related techniques.One drawback of this approach however, is that a large amount of dataneeds to be stored and managed in order to determine similar users,making such an approach inappropriate in some situations.

Another approach is to identify media items that are similar to mediaitems previously interacted with by the user. One implementation of sucha recommendation system may involve attaching metadata tags to mediaitems, such that media items having the same metadata tags are deemed tobe similar. However, given the large variety of media available,thousands of metadata tags are needed to accurately describe thecontents of media items.

Managing the metadata tags and performing similarity computations basedon the multitude of tags usually needs large amounts of processing powerand storage space. In addition, because metadata tags are often attachedto a media item based on the perceptions of an individual, the tags maynot accurately describe the contents of the media item, and, therefore,any similarity computation performed based on the tags may not beaccurate. Further, the set of metadata tags that optimally determinesimilarity of media items and/or the extent to which each tag shouldcontribute to this similarity typically varies depending on the actualcontent being evaluated, making global scoring functions based onmetadata tags sub-optimal, and content specific ones difficult toestimate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment upon which anembodiment may be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates an application server according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example user interface display for displaying oneor more recommended titles according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a cumulative distribution function fortake rates of media titles in context of another media title accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a probability generator engine 208 calculating mediatitle probabilities according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a recommendation engine providing titlerecommendations according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system upon whichan embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,that the present invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresent invention.

Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline:

1.0 General Overview

2.0 Example Operating Environment

3.0 Example Application Server Computer

4.0 Take Rate Signal

5.0 Take Rate Signal in Context of Other Media Titles

6.0 Other Similarity and Popularity Indicators

7.0 Probability Generator Functional Overview

8.0 Recommendation Engine Functional Overview

9.0 Title Recommendation Display

10.0 Alternative Contexts and Uses

11.0 Hardware Overview

12.0 Extensions and Alternatives

1.0 General Overview

This disclosure assumes familiarity with the approach to recommendingcontent that is described in application Ser. No. 13/590,071, filed Aug.20, 2012, titled “Identifying Similar Items Based on InteractionHistory”, by Gomez Uribe et al. (the '071 Application), which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as though fully statedherein. This disclosure assumes familiarity with the approach torecommending content that is described in application Ser. No.13/829,064, filed Mar. 14, 2013, titled “Personalized Markov Chains”, byGomez Uribe et al. (the '064 Application), which is hereby incorporatedby reference for all purposes as though fully stated herein. Markovchains as described in the '071 Application and '064 Application may beimproved using a take rate signal in recommending content as furtherdescribed herein.

In an embodiment, a take rate signal is information derived fromrecording user interactions with a system relating to viewing, playing,renting or otherwise taking a content item. In an embodiment, a contentdistribution system may present media items to a user in form of mediatitles and may serve title data that contains media titles from alibrary of media titles to a content browser and player of the user.Title data may contain media items and metadata associated with them,such as a description of a title, current rating of the title, and anumber of plays for the title. Title data may vary in size as title datamay contain a single media title or may contain a media library asdescribed below. In an embodiment, only a portion of the media librarymay be presented to a user, due to the size of a media library,constraints of a graphical user interface display, latency or resourceconstraints.

The user may or may not browse through all the presented media titlesbefore making a decision as to which media title to play. In anembodiment, a content distribution system may have a media library ofthousands of media titles that may be subdivided into genres, such asaction, family, comedy, or sci-fi. In response to user requests tobrowse the comedy genre media titles, the content distribution systemmay send to the content browser, for example, only the first 100 comedymedia titles as part of the title data. Upon receiving the 100 mediatitles, the content browser may only be able to display to the user 10media titles on the initial screen because of display space constraints.In order to browse the rest of the media titles, the user may have torequest the content browser to display those titles by an action such asscrolling, hovering the mouse towards the end of the displayed mediatitles, or clicking a “next” button.

In an embodiment, a content browser may record media titles that arebrowsed by a user as part of impression data. Browsed media titles mayinclude the media titles that have been initially displayed to the useron the initial screen, so that they were visible to the user, as well asthe media titles that have been browsed by the user through anaffirmative user action. In an embodiment, in addition to browsed mediatitles, the title impression data may further contain user information,browsing context information, such as locations/pages/arrangements incontent browser where browsed media titles resided, timestamp ofbrowsing, as well as additional information about browsed media titles.The title impression data may be stored locally, for example, using logsmaintained by the content browser. In a related embodiment, the contentdistribution system may receive the title impression data by initiatinga request to the content browser or by the content browser initiating arequest to transmit the title impression data to the contentdistribution system on a periodic or asynchronous basis.

A content browser may also record a user's interactions with mediatitles, in an embodiment. When a user requests an interaction with aparticular media title from browsed titles, the content browser mayrecord an interaction. In an embodiment, in response to the userinteraction with a media title, a media player may play the media itemassociated with the media title. Or, the user interaction with a mediatitle may merely request the delivery of the media item associated withthe media title through a communication network or other means such asmail.

The content browser may record the title associated with an interactionas part of title interaction data. In an embodiment, in addition to themedia title, title interaction data may contain user information,interaction context information, such as locations, pages orarrangements in the content browser from which the interacted mediatitle has been played, timestamp of interaction, duration of theinteraction, as well as additional information about the interactedmedia title.

Based on the title interaction data and the title impression data, atake rate signal may be derived for a title. In an embodiment, the takerate signal represents information about the relationship between thecontent that is displayed to users of a system, and user interactionswith the displayed content. For example, the take rate for a particulartitle may increase when the number of interactions with the particulartitle increases, and may decrease when the particular title is visibleto the user and/or browsed over without an interaction. In anembodiment, a take rate signal may be represented by a ratio of numberof times a particular title has been interacted with by users over thenumber of times the particular title has been visible to and/or browsedover by users. In another embodiment, a take rate signal may berepresented by the total number of hours that a particular title hasbeen played over the number of times the particular title has beenbrowsed over. Additionally or alternatively, the take rate signal may bederived from a quantified interaction of users with available andbrowsed media titles.

In an embodiment, a take rate signal may be incorporated into logicalunits, computations or calculations that determine a recommendationdisplay of media titles that are recommended for a user, in the abstractor in the context of another media title. When a user interacts with amedia title, the content distribution system may determine the user maybe interested in similar media titles. A content browser may display thesimilar media titles in a selection window as recommendations based onthe previously interacted title, source title or other factors. Thecontent browser may utilize the take rate signals of similar mediatitles to arrange the similar titles in a descending order ofprobability values. In an embodiment, each title is associated with aprobability value indicating a likelihood that the user will interactwith that title, based upon past actual interactions, preferences orother factors. For example, a content distribution system may infer thata user who requested to watch the movie “Sherlock Holmes” may also beinterested in watching “Monk” or “Poirot”. The “Monk” and “Poirot”titles may be displayed to a user in a selection window described as“Because you watched Sherlock Holmes.” The media titles may be arrangedbased in part on the take rates of “Monk” and “Poirot” in the context of“Sherlock Holmes”.

According to one technique, the probability of a user interacting with aparticular media title after an interaction with a source title may beestimated through Markov chain state transition probabilities. Thecontent distribution system may arrange the media titles in arecommendations display of the content browser in a particular orderusing Markov chain transition probabilities to improve the accuracy ofrecommendations and the likelihood of a user interacting with aparticular title without further browsing or searching.

A Markov chain is a mathematical system that undergoes statetransitions. In many cases, a Markov chain represents a discrete-timeprocess involving a system which is in a certain state at each step,with the state changing randomly between the steps. The steps mayrepresent moments in time, but can refer also to physical distance,number of iterations, or any other discrete measurement. The Markovproperty states that the conditional probability distribution for thesystem at the next step (and all future steps) depends only on thecurrent state of the system, and not additionally on the state of thesystem at previous steps.

Markov chains may be utilized as a single Markov chain. In a singleMarkov chain, only a single state transition is considered: from acurrent state to any of destination states. Each transition from thecurrent state to a destination state has an associated conditionaltransition probability for the step. For example, a single Markov chainmay consist of three states (1,2,3) and have a current state of 1 wherethe probability p_(i,j) of transitioning from state i=1 to state jduring the next step are denoted by p_(1,1), p_(1,2), p_(1,3). Since thesystem will always transition from state i=1 to at least some state j,the sum of the probabilities p_(1,1), p_(1,2), p_(1,3) is always equalto 1 (100% probability).

In an embodiment, a logistic regression model may be used to supportaccurately predicting the likelihood of a user interaction ortransition. A logistic function may be derived for representing theprobability of a user interacting with a particular title afterinteracting with a source title. In the logistic function, the binomialoutcome of whether a user interacts with a particular title afterinteracting with a source media title may serve as the dependentvariable, and the take rate signal may be used as an independentvariable for the logistic regression function. According to thisapproach, through a regression of a known representative sample of userinteractions and impressions of media titles from a media library, thelogistic function may accurately approximate the probability oftransition from interacting with a source media title to interactingwith a particular title.

A logistic regression model is a type of a mathematical regression modelthat is used to predict a binary response. In general, regression modelis a statistical method that is used for estimating a relationshipbetween variables. Regression model can be used to predict how aparticular dependent variable may change based on variations inindependent variables. To estimate a dependent variable value, aregression function of unknown parameters and independent variables isdefined. To derive the regression function, a representative sample ofknown outcomes is regressed to determine the values of the unknownparameters. Once derived, the regression function then can be evaluatedto produce an approximation of dependent variable value.

The output of a logistic regression model is typically a binomialregression that deals with a dependent variable that can have only twopossible values. Typically, the two possible values of the dependentvariable are zero and one. Thus, a logistic regression functiondescribes the probability of the dependent variable evaluating either tozero or one. Such logistic regression function takes a form of:

${\log \frac{F(x)}{1 - {F(x)}}} = {\beta_{0} + {\beta_{1}x_{1}} + {\beta_{2}x_{2}} + \ldots + {\beta_{m}x_{m}}}$

where F(x) is the logistic regression function that evaluates to theprobability of the dependent variable having value zero or one; x₁ . . .x_(m) are the independent variable; and β₀ . . . β_(m) are the unknowncoefficients that may be derived by regressing sample data.

The logistic regression model as applied to state transition mayrepresent whether the state transition would occur or not. A dependentvariable value of one would represent the occurrence of such transition,while the value of zero would represent non-occurrence of thetransition. Thus, F(x), logistic function may represent the probabilityp_(i,j) of transitioning from state i to state j. Such transition maydepend on various fixed factors that may be represented in the logisticregression function as x₁ . . . x_(m). Sample data on the i to j statetransition may then be used to determine β₀ . . . β_(m), the unknowncoefficients.

In an embodiment, a method comprises using a server computer in a mediacontent delivery system that is configured to selectively deliver aparticular media title from among a library of titles, for a sourcetitle, generating title data that specifies an order of a plurality oftitles that are related to the source title based on a plurality ofstored probability values; wherein each probability value in theplurality of probability values represents, for each particular title ofthe plurality of titles, a likelihood of selecting the particular titleafter playing the source title; using the server computer, receivingtitle impression data, wherein the title impression data specifies aplurality of browsed titles that were browsed from among the pluralityof titles; using the server computer, receiving title interaction data,wherein the title interaction data specifies a plurality of selectedtitles that were selected from the plurality of browsed titles; based onthe title interaction data, the title impression data and a statisticalmodel, re-calculating the plurality of probabilities; wherein the methodis performed by one or more computing devices.

In other embodiments, the invention encompasses a computer apparatus anda computer-readable medium configured to carry out the foregoing steps.Various embodiments are summarized in and set forth in the appendedclaims.

2.0 Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment upon which anembodiment may be implemented. In FIG. 1, a content distribution system100 includes an application server computer 102, a communicationsnetwork 104, a content distribution network (CDN) 106, a content browser(CB) 108, and a media player (MP) 110. For convenience, only aparticular number of each of the aforementioned elements is depicted inFIG. 1. However, a practical environment may have many more, perhapsthousands or millions, of the aforementioned elements. Furthermore, inan embodiment, CB 108 and MP 110 may be integrated as one component.

The communications network 104 includes a plurality of networkcommunication systems, such as routers and switches, configured tofacilitate data communication between the application server computer102, the CDN 106 and the CB 108. In an embodiment, MP 110 may beindependently connected to the communication network 104. In anotherembodiment, MP 110 may not be connected to the communication network104, and media titles may be independently delivered to MP 110 forplaying through other means.

In an embodiment, communications network 104 represents any combinationof one or more local networks, wide area networks, internetworks, orservice provider networks. In some embodiments, communications network104 represents the Internet. The nodes of communications network 104 maysend messages using any number of protocols, such as network layerprotocols (e.g. IP, MPLS, IPsec, etc.), transport layer protocols (e.g.TCP, UDP, etc.), and/or application layer protocols (e.g. FTP, SSH, TLS,HTTP, etc.). However, the exact protocol or combination of protocolsused to deliver messages across communications network 104 is notcritical to the techniques described herein.

The application server computer 102 is a computer system configured tohost a web application that is accessed by the CB 108. In an embodiment,the web application hosted by the application server computer 102 allowsa user of CB 108 to browse through available content, manage accountinformation, receive content recommendations, etc. Further, applicationserver computer 102 is configured with the functional units shown inFIG. 2 and discussed below that implement the techniques describedherein.

The CDN 106 comprises one or more computer systems configured to servedownload requests for media titles from the CB 108 to MP 110, in anembodiment. The media titles may reside on a mass storage systemaccessible to the CDN 106. The mass storage system may include, withoutlimitation, direct attached storage, network attached file storage, ornetwork attached block-level storage. The media titles may be formattedand stored on the mass storage system using any technically feasibletechnique. A data transfer protocol, such as HTTP, may be used todownload media titles from the CDN 106 to the CB 108 or the MP 110.

The MP 110, in various embodiments, may be a separate entity from CB 108and comprises a computer system, a set top box, a mobile device such asa mobile phone, user application, or any other technically feasibleplatform that is coupled to or include a display device and/or speakerdevice for presenting video frames, and generating acoustic outputrespectively. In an embodiment, where the MP 110 does not have networkconnectivity, media titles from CDN 106 are delivered through othermeans such as a standard mail or a courier service.

The CB 108, in various embodiments, comprises a computer system, a settop box, a mobile device such as a mobile phone, user application, orany other technically feasible platform that has network connectivityand is coupled to or includes a display device for presenting videoframes. The CB 108 interacts with the application server computer 102and the CDN 106 to display available content information such as mediatitles from a media library, gather user preferences, request playing ora delivery of media titles, etc.

3.0 Example Application Server Design

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the application server computer 102 ofFIG. 1. In an embodiment, the application server computer 102 includes amedia library 202, an interaction database 204, an impression database206, a probability generator 208, and a recommendation engine 210.

The media library 202 includes a list of media titles with which usersof the application server interact. An interaction with a media titlemay include a user action on a media title, such as playing the mediatitle, requesting media title to be delivered, rating the media title,adding a media title to a set of media titles of interest (such as apreference queue), searching for a media title in a search engine, oreven clicking or otherwise navigating to a more detailed description ofa media title. A combination of different interaction types may bestored.

Media titles may include audio-video data, such as movies or TV shows,image data, such as photographs, or audio-only data, such as songs.However, the exact type of data that the media titles represent is notcritical to the techniques described herein. In an embodiment, the medialibrary 202 may include only references to media titles that are storedwithin the CDN 106 for distribution to users of the CB 108.

The interaction database 204 stores media title interaction data relatedto users of the content distribution system 100. In the case of the CB108, in an embodiment, each time a user interacts with a particularmedia title via the CB 108, the interaction is recorded in theinteraction database 204. In some embodiments, along with informationidentifying the media title, the records may include user identityinformation, the time and date of each interaction, the duration ofinteraction, and/or metadata about the user, etc. For other types ofinteractions, the strength of the interaction may be stored. Forexample, if the interaction is a rating, then the rating value may bestored. Based on recorded interactions, a history of user interactionmay be determined. For example, based on two consecutive interactionsfrom the same user, a transition from a media title i to a media title jmay be recorded.

The impression database 206 stores the title impression data related tousers of the content distribution system 100. In the case of the CB 108,each time a user browses over a particular media title or is capable ofseeing a media title via the CB 108, user impressions of media titlesare recorded in the impression database 206. In some embodiments, alongwith information specifying the media title, the records may alsoinclude the user information, the time and date of each browsing,context of such browsing such as a particular page or window in the CB108, etc. In an embodiment, the title impression data may furthercontain information identifying the browsed media titles that the userinteracted with. To represent an interacted media titles from browsedmedia titles, the title impression data may contain a pointer to anentry in the interaction database 204 corresponding to the interactedmedia title. Based on recorded impressions and interactions, acomprehensive history of browsing by users may be determined. Forexample, based on all interactions and impressions of media title jdisplayed in the CB 108, a take rate signal may be recorded for mediatitle j based on the ratio of amount of interaction of media title jversus number of impressions of media title j. A more detaileddescription of take rate signal will be described later in Section 4.0and 5.0.

The probability generator 208 is configured to compute probabilities fora particular media title in a context of other media titles. Suchprobabilities denote the likelihood that a user will interact with theparticular media title compared to other media titles based onstatistical similarity to the media title, or popularity of the mediatitle, in comparison to other media titles in a particular context. Inan embodiment, the probability generator 208 obtains as input titleimpression data and title interaction data on a media title from theimpression database 206 and interaction database 204. From theaforementioned inputs, the probability generator 208 computes astatistical measurement of likelihood of interaction with the particularmedia title based in part on a take rate signal for the particular mediatitle and other indicators of similarity or popularity in comparisonwith other media titles available on the CDN 106. A more detaileddescription of how the probability generator 208 computes theprobabilities for media titles is described later in Section 7.0.

The recommendation engine 210 recommends media titles to users of thecontent distribution system 100, via the CB 108, based, at least inpart, on the probabilities computed by the probability generator 208.For example, when a user interacts with media title i, therecommendation engine 210 recommends one or more media titles withprobability scores to media title i that are above a particularthreshold. As another example, the recommendation engine 210 mayrecommend media titles with the top N probability scores to media titlei. Thus, the recommendation engine 210 presents users withrecommendations of media titles that are determined to be statisticallysimilar to a media title with which the user last interacted. A moredetailed description of how the recommendation engine 210 recommendsmedia titles will be described later in section 8.0.

In an embodiment, the media library 202, interaction database 204,impression database 206, probability generator 208, and recommendationengine 210 each may be implemented using one or more computer programs,other software elements, firmware, or a combination thereof that arehosted in or executed by a general-purpose computer. Alternatively,application server computer 102 may be configured as a special-purposecomputer in which the probability generator 208 and recommendationengine 210 are implemented using special-purpose logic.

4.0 Take Rate Signal

A take rate signal for a particular media title describes a relationshipbetween user interactions and impressions of the particular media title.The take rate signal increases with an increase in user interactions anddecreases with an increase in user impressions that have no userinteractions. To compute a take rate signal for a particular mediatitle, the title impression data for the particular media title isselected from the impression database 206, and the title interactiondata for the particular media title is selected from the interactiondatabases 204. In an embodiment, a take rate signal for a particularmedia title may be based on all impressions and interactions with suchmedia title using the content distribution system. In other embodiments,various take rate signals may be computed for a particular media titlebased on a shared context of the selected title interaction data andtitle impression data.

In an embodiment, the shared context may be a common location, page, orarrangement of media titles in a content browser that the selectedimpressions and interactions for a particular media title originatedfrom. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of such recommendation displayarrangement in a content browser. The display 300 contains recommendedcontent based on source media titles, source title A 310 and sourcetitle B 312. The media titles recommended for each of the source mediatitles are displayed in the selection windows 301, 302 respectively. Themedia title 303 is displayed in the selection window 301, 302 in contextof both the source title A 310 and the source title B 312 arrangementsof media titles. Thus, a take rate signal in the context of source titleA 310 may be computed for the media title 303 based on user impressionsand interaction in the selection window 301. Similarly, a different takerate signal for the same media title 303, in the context of source titleB 312, may be computed based on user interactions and impressions in theselection window 302.

In another embodiment, a shared context may be a common group of usersthat the selected impressions and interactions for a particular mediatitle originated from. Such group of users may be based on geographicallocality, such as all the users in the Northern America, or may be basedon affiliations. Examples of affiliations may be users that are membersof a particular organization or users that are related to each otherthrough a social network. Furthermore, content distribution system mayaffiliate users into groups based on their interactions with the system.Such groups may consist of users that rated a media title very highly orwatched the same media titles or had tendency to select media titlesfrom the same genres.

A numerical representation of the take rate signal, termed a take rate,may be calculated from user interactions and user impressions for aparticular title. In an embodiment, the number of user interactions isdetermined from the user interaction data selected for a particularmedia title from the interaction database. The number of userimpressions may be determined from the user impression data selectedfrom the impression database. Then, a take rate for the particular titlemay be calculated by the ratio of the number of user interactions overthe number of user impressions. In some embodiments, a take rate may nottake into account each and every user interaction for a particular titlein the interaction database. For example, non-play based userinteractions, such as rating the particular media title or commenting onthe particular title, may not be counted towards the number of userinteractions for the particular media title. In another example, playbased user interactions may be further qualified based on the length ofa media title play. Accordingly, user interactions with the particularmedia item may be counted towards the take rate of the particular mediatitle, if the particular media title has been played for more than aspecified duration of time. For example, if a user played a media titlej for only a few seconds, the user interaction would not be countedtowards the take rate for the media title j.

In another embodiment, a take rate for a particular media title may alsobe computed based on the length of interaction with the particular mediatitle. The title interaction data selected from the interaction databasemay further contain a duration of each interaction for the particularmedia title. These durations may be summed up together to yield a totalduration of interaction for the particular media title. The number ofuser impressions of the particular media title may be determined fromthe user impression data selected from the impression database. Aduration based take rate may be computed by a ratio of the totalduration of interactions over the number of impressions for theparticular media title. In embodiments, a duration of interaction may berepresented in time measurement units such as days, hours, minutes, orseconds and/or content measurement units such as frames.

5.0 Take Rate in Context of Other Media Titles

The take rate for a particular media title may be adjusted to accountfor presentation bias. The presentation bias occurs when a particularmedia title is presented and displayed far fewer than other mediatitles, and thus receives few user impressions. As such, the particularmedia title may have over-inflated or under-inflated take rate becausethe number of impressions is not statistically significant enough toaccurately represent the take rate signal for the particular mediatitle. For example, a small production movie title may have beendisplayed towards the end of a selection window scroll and may have onlybeen browsed three times. However, out of the three times that the mediatitle was browsed, the media title was requested for play two times. Onthe other hand, a popular movie title may be displayed toward the frontof the selection window and may have been browsed by millions of timesand may have been requested half of the time. According to this example,the popular movie would have far smaller take rate value than the smallproduction movie because the presentation bias favors the smallproduction title. Thus, in embodiments, where a particular media titleis displayed in a context of other media titles in a recommendationdisplay arrangement that takes into account a take rate of the displayedmedia titles, the particular media title may have inaccurate placementin the context of the other media titles as a result of the presentationbias.

In an embodiment, the presentation bias for a take rate signalassociated with a particular media title may be corrected by adjustingthe take rate to account for variances in user interactions andimpressions. A standard error of user interactions for the particularmedia title may be used to adjust the take rate of the particular mediatitle, where the standard error defines the confidence interval aroundthe mean of user interactions. The mean of user interactions is equal tothe take rate, if the take rate is based on the number of userinteractions and impression of the particular media title. In suchembodiments, the standard error may then be represented by:

$\sigma = \sqrt{\frac{{tr}\left( {1 - {tr}} \right)}{N_{imp}}}$

where σ is the standard error of user interactions, tr is the take ratebased on number of user interactions and impressions, and N_(imp) is thenumber of user impressions for the particular title.

In a related embodiment, based on the standard error, the take rate maybe adjusted to the lower bound of the confidence interval of userinteractions. The adjusted lower bound take rate may be computed as:

tr _(lb) =tr−n×σ

where tr is the original take rate and n is selected based on the desirerange of the confidence interval.

Take rates for media titles may be further adjusted to be normalizedbased on a distribution of the take rate values for a set of mediatitles. In an embodiment, a set of media titles in a recommendationdisplay arrangement may be placed based on each media title take rateand other indicators. If the take rates of the set vary greatly in theirvalues, then the weight of the take rate as compared to the weight ofother indicators may differ from one media title to another. Forexample, media titles j and k are displayed as similar titles in arecommendation display arrangement for a source media title i. The mediatitles j and k may have take rate values of 0.0011 and 0.0015respectively. Although, it may seem that the 0.0004 difference betweenthe take rate values is negligible, 0.0015 may be greater than 80% oftake rate values for media titles displayed in the arrangement for themedia title i, and 0.0011 may be greater than only 20% of other mediatitle take rates displayed. Accordingly, if the take rate values formedia titles j and k in context of i are not normalized, then the takerate difference between these two media titles may be easily overpoweredby other similarity indicators and may yield inaccurate recommendationdisplay arrangement of the media titles j and k in context of mediatitle i. The normalization assures that the take rate preserves theproper weight when media titles are arranged with respect to each other.

In order to standardize the effect of take rates for media titles in arecommendation display arrangement, a cumulative distribution functionmay be used, in an embodiment. The cumulative distribution function isderived based on the take rate values of media titles in a context. Theoutput of the cumulative distribution function for a particular takerate value is the probability value of finding take rate values belowthe particular take rate value. Thus, effectively the cumulativedistribution function is a mapping of densities of take rate values fora set of media titles in the arrangement, where each take rate value ismapped to a normalized take rate value. The normalized take rate valuemay be represented by the following equation for the cumulativedistribution function:

F _(i)(X _(j))=Pr(tr≦tr _(ij))

where F_(i)(X_(j)) is the is the cumulative distribution function andnormalized take rate of the media title j in the context of the mediatitle i, and Pr(tr≦tr_(ij)) is the probability value of finding othertake rate values in the context of the media title i that are below thetake rate value of the title j in the same context.

In a related embodiment, take rate values that are adjusted forpresentation bias may be used as an input to the cumulative distributionfunction to map to normalized take rate values. Thus, the cumulativedistribution function represents the probability value of findingadjusted lower bound take rate values below the particular adjustedlower bound take rate value. The cumulative distribution function forthe media title j may be represented as:

F _(i)(X _(j))=Pr(tr≦tr _(lb) ^(ij))

where tr_(lb) ^(ij) is the adjusted lower bound take rate for the mediatitle j in the context of media title i.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example cumulative distribution function for takerates of a set of media titles in a similarity context for the sourcetitle B 312 in FIG. 3, in an embodiment. The cumulative distributionfunction may have been derived from all the take rate values of the setof media titles that are similar to the source title B 312. In analternative embodiment, the cumulative distribution function may havebeen derived from a representative set of the take rate values of mediatitles that are similar to the source title B 312. The resultingcumulative distribution function maps take rate values of media titlesto a normalized value range from 0 to 1. For example, for media title303, the take rate value of 0.0012 maps to a normalized value of 0.4,while for media title 304, the take rate value of 0.0024 maps to a valueof 0.8. Accordingly, in the context of the source title B 312, the mediatitle 303 has a normalized take rate value of 0.4, and the media title304 has a normalized take rate value 0.8, respectively.

6.0 Other Similarity and Popularity Indicators

In an embodiment, the distribution system may use other similarity orpopularity based recommendation indicators to recommend media titles tousers in addition to a take rate signal, such as the indicatorsdescribed in the '071 Application and '064 Application.

In an embodiment, the one or more of the following indicators may beused in conjunction with a take rate signal to improve identifyingsimilar and popular media titles. The indicators are computed based onuser interaction and impression data in the interaction and impressiondatabases. In related embodiments, the indicators may be based oninteraction and impression data from a subset of users. A subset ofusers may be based on geographic locality of users or user affiliations.

Transition probability (tp) is a similarity indicator denoting aprobability that a user interacts with media title j after interactingwith media title i.

tp=P(i→j).

Transition probability may be calculated based on a ratio of the numberof consecutive interactions with any media titles after an interactionwith a media title i over the number of consecutive interactions of amedia title j after an interaction with the media title i. In a relatedembodiment, if a delay occurs between interactions, such interactionsmay not be denoted as consecutive interactions or may be assigned asmaller weight.

Odds ratio (OR) is a ratio of probability that a media title j wasinteracted consecutively after a media title i due to similarity betweenthese titles over the probability that the transition between these twotitles is completely random. OR may be represented by the followingequation:

${{OR}\left( {i,j} \right)} = \frac{P_{MC}\left( i\rightarrow j \right)}{P_{R}\left( i\rightarrow j \right)}$

where P_(MC) is the probability that such sequence of interactions willbe on purpose and P_(R) is the probability that the media title j willbe interacted with after the media title i at random.

The probability of any random media title interaction is equal to theratio of the number of interactions of the media title over the totalnumber of interactions in the content distribution system. Theprobability of two consecutive interactions is calculated by multiplyingthe probability of the first interaction with the probability of thesecond interactions. Thus, OR may be further simplified to the followingequation:

${{OR}\left( {i,j} \right)} = {\frac{P_{MC}\left( i\rightarrow j \right)}{P_{R}\left( i\rightarrow j \right)} = {\frac{{P\left( {j/i} \right)} \times {P(i)}}{{P(i)} \times {P(j)}} = \frac{P\left( {j/i} \right)}{P(j)}}}$

where P(j) is the probability of the media title j interaction atrandom.

Therefore, an odds ratio greater than 1 implies title j is similar totitle i and is more likely to be interacted in succession after title ithan interacted at random. An odds ratio lower than 1 would mean thatthe two titles may rather be dissimilar.

Search odds ratio (sor) is defined similar to the odds ratio above, butdescribes a user search for a media title i followed by an interactionwith a media title j. In a related embodiment, if a delay occurs betweena search and an interaction such interaction may not be denoted as atransition or may be assigned a smaller weight in the calculation ofsor.

Fraction of content viewed (fcv) is a popularity indicator based on anaverage interaction duration of a media title. Each interaction durationmay be represented as a ratio of a duration of an interaction with amedia title over a total possible interaction duration with the mediatitle. For example, if a user plays 20 minutes of a 40 minute mediatitle, the interactionfcv is 0.5. Then, an fcv may be calculated byaveraging all interaction fcv's for the media title. In a relatedembodiment, an fcv may be represented by a lower bound of interactionfcv's, similar to the calculation of a lower bound take rate discussedabove.

In an embodiment, a compound level fcv is based on an averageinteraction duration of a set of media titles that are part of a logicalgrouping of media titles. The logical grouping of media title may be aTV show season comprising of multiple episodes, or an album comprisingof multiple tracks. Each interaction duration may be represented as aratio of a total duration of interactions with media titles within thelogical grouping over a total possible interaction duration with allmedia titles within the logical grouping. For example, if all episodeswithin a TV show add up to 400 minutes, and a user plays only 20minutes, then the interaction compound level fcv would be 0.05. In arelated embodiment, a compound level fcv may be represented by a lowerbound of interaction compound level fcv's, similar to the calculation ofa lower bound take rate discussed above. A media title that is a memberof a logical grouping of media titles may have a combined fcv based on acombination of a compound level fcv for the logical grouping and its ownfcv.

7.0 Probability Computation Engine Functional Overview

The probability generator 208 is configured to calculate variousprobabilities based on indicators that include a take rate signal torecommend media titles to a user through the content browser 108, in anembodiment. The calculated probabilities represent the likelihood ofuser interacting with a particular media item in a particular context.The context may be a previous media title interacted by the user, agenre of titles, or media titles recently added to the media library202. The probabilities may be calculated by using statistical modelsthat may utilize a take rate signal and other indicators. Theprobabilities computed by the models for media titles may be used toarrange the media titles in respect to each other in a page displayedusing the content browser 108. In one embodiment, the probabilities maybe calculated to denote the similarity measurement between media titles.In another embodiment, the probabilities may be calculated to denote thepopularity of media titles with respect to each other.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process of calculating media title probabilitiesaccording to an embodiment. At block 501, impression data andinteraction data are selected for a particular title, for example, byselecting from the impression database 204 and interaction database 206.The context may specify whether additional data needs to be selectedfrom the databases. For example, if the context of the probabilities tobe generated is the similarity between media titles and a source title,then impression data and interaction data for the source media title mayalso be selected. In another embodiment, where the context ofprobabilities is based on interaction with media titles of a specificgenre, then only media titles that belong to the genre are selected.There are many other contexts for selection of media titles, however,the exact type of context of probabilities is not critical to thetechniques described herein.

At block 502, take rates for the selected media title are calculatedfrom take rate signals. The techniques discussed in Section 4.0 and 5.0may be used. Other indicators, if any, may also be calculated for theselected media title at block 503, as described in Section 6.0.

At block 504, the calculated take rates and other indicators are used ina statistical model to produce the probability. In an embodiment, thestatistical model may be a Markov chain model. In a related embodiment,the Markov chain model computes a transition probability between theselected title and the source title. The transition probability denotesthe likelihood that a user will interact with the selected title afterthe user has interacted with the source title. A more detaileddescription of Markov chain model computations for media titles isdescribed in Section 7.1.

In another embodiment, the probability for the selected media title iscalculated based on the logistic regression statistical model. Thelogistic regression model uses the calculated take rates and otherindicators for media titles to calculate the selected media titleprobability. In a related embodiment, the logistic regression modelcomputes a transition probability as the probability for the selectedtitle with respect to the source title. A more detailed description oflogistic regression model computations for media titles is described inSection 7.2. In other embodiments, other statistical models may be usedthat utilize the take rates of the selected media title to compute theprobability, however the exact type of model is not critical to thetechniques described herein.

At block 505, the operations of blocks 501 through 504 may be repeatedfor all media titles in the interaction and impression databases. As aresult, a complete set of take rates and probabilities may be obtainedor calculated.

7.1 Markov Chain Model for Probability Calculation

In an embodiment, the probability of a user watching or interacting witha particular media title next may be calculated using a Markov chainmodel that utilizes a take rate for the particular media title. In anembodiment, each user interaction with a different media title ismodelled as a Markov chain state, and the Markov chain probability is atransition probability of interacting with the particular media titleafter interacting with a source media title. Since a take rate signal isa factor in a user interactions with the particular media title, theMarkov chain probability may be calculated, at least based in part, on atake rate of the particular title. The Markov chain probability for auser interaction with a particular media title j after a userinteraction with a source media title i, may be represented by thefollowing equation:

MC _(ij) =f(g(x _(ij)))

where MC_(ij) is the Markov chain probability and is a function ofg(x_(ij)), where g(x_(ij)) is a modifying function of the title j takerate. The modifying function may be represented by the followingequation:

g(x _(ij))=(a+b×tr)^(c)

where a, b and c are modifier values for the take rate of the particularmedia title j, tr. The Markov chain probability may be an unmodifiedfunction of the title j take rate, and in such case, the modifiers wouldhave values: a=0, b=1 and c=0. In a related embodiment, the Markov chainprobability may have a moderate dependency on the take rate and in suchcase, the modifying function would have relatively moderate modifiervalues. For example, the modifying function may have a=1, b=1 and c=2values to yield a moderate dependency on the take rate. In anotherembodiment, the Markov chain probability may have an aggressivedependency on the take rate, and respectively, in such case, themodifying function would have relatively aggressive modifier values.Such aggressive values may be a=1, b=2 and c=2.

The take rate for a particular media title may be any of the media titletake rates as described in Section 4.0 and 5.0, or combination thereof.For example, the modifying function may use the normalized lower boundtake rate of the particular media title j in the context of the sourcemedia title i as the take rate. In such embodiment, tr is replaced bythe cumulative distribution function for lower bound take rates. Theresulting modifying take rate function may be represented with thefollowing equation:

g(x _(ij))=a+b×F _(i)(X _(j)))^(c)

In another embodiment, the Markov chain probability for a particulartitle may be calculated based on other indicators in addition to thetake rate of the particular title. The other indicators may be one ormore indicators described in Section 6.0. In a related embodiment, theMarkov chain probability for a particular title in a context of a sourcetitle may be a function of transition probability, tp, odds ratio, OR,search odds ratio, sor, fraction content viewed, fcv, and modifying takerate function, as described above. In further related embodiment, theMarkov chain probability for the media title j in the context of mediatitle i may be represented by the following equation:

${MC}_{ij} = {1 + {10^{3} \times {tp} \times {{\log \left( {{OR} \times \left( {1 + \left( \frac{5 \times {sor}}{1 + {5 \times {sor}}} \right)} \right) \times \left( {{fcv} + \varepsilon} \right) \times {g\left( {F_{i}\left( X_{j} \right)} \right)}} \right)}.}}}$

where tp is the transitional probability of user interacting with themedia title i and then interacting with the media title j; OR is theodds ratio of interaction sequence between the media title i and j beingat random over it being on purpose; sor is the odds ratio of searchingfor the media title i and then interacting with the media title j beingat random over it being on purpose; fcv is a ratio of interactionduration of the media title j over total duration of the media title j,and tp, OR, sor and fcv are computed based on the techniques describedin section 6.0.

7.2 Logistic Regression Model for Probability Calculation

In an embodiment, the probability of a user watching or interacting witha particular media title next may be calculated using a logisticregression model that utilizes take rates for the particular mediatitle. A training sample data for the logistic regression model isselected from the interaction and impression databases. The sample datamay or may not contain data on the particular media title. The sampledata may be selected randomly, while in another embodiment, the sampledata may be selected based on a region or based on a popularity of mediatitles or combination of thereof.

The sample data can be regressed using a logistic regression function ofthe logistic regression model. The logistic regression function uses atake rate for the particular media as an independent variable. Thelogistic regression may use any of the take rate types discussed insections 4.0 and 5.0, alone or in combination, as the dependentvariable. For each media title in the sample data, the logisticregression function evaluates to a binomial output of the dependentvariable, where the value of 1 denotes the occurrence of the interactionin the sample data and 0 to non-occurrence. The regression function maybe represented by the following equation:

${\log \frac{F_{a}}{1 - F_{a}}} = {\beta_{0} + {\beta_{1}\left( {tr}_{a} \right)}}$

where F_(a) is either 0 or 1 depending on the sample data for a mediatitle a in the sample data; β₀ and β₁ are unknown coefficients of thetake rate for the media title a. The take rate for media title a may becalculated as described in Section 4.0 and 5.0. In an embodiment, moreindependent variables may be used representing the different type oftake rates with respective coefficients.

Based on the regression of the sample data, the unknown coefficients maybe determined. Once the coefficients are calculated, the regressionfunction may be evaluated to calculate the probability of playing anymedia title, such as a media title j, using the same general form oflogistic regression function equation:

${\log \frac{p_{j}}{1 - p_{j}}} = {\beta_{0} + {\beta_{1}\left( {tr}_{j} \right)}}$

where p_(j) is the calculated probability of user interacting with amedia title j. In a related embodiment, more independent variables maybe used representing the different type of take rates with respectivecoefficients.

In another embodiment, a logistic regression model may be used tocalculate the probability of an interaction of a particular media titlein the context of a source media title. A training sample data for thelogistic regression model is selected from the title interaction and thetitle impression database that contains information on consecutive mediatitle interactions or interactions with media titles after another mediatitle is searched.

The sample data then may be regressed by a logistic regression functionof the logistic regression model. A take rate for the particular mediain the context of the source media title may serve as an independentvariable of the function. In related embodiments, more than one takerates may serve as independent variables. The dependent variable of thefunction may be the binomial output of occurrence or non-occurrence ofthe consecutive user interactions with a media title or a searchfollowed by an interaction with a model title. The regression functionmay be evaluated for unknown coefficients, to β₀ and β₁, the followingformula:

${\log \frac{F_{ab}}{1 - F_{ab}}} = {\beta_{0} + {\beta_{1}\left( {tr}_{ib} \right)}}$

where F_(ib) is either 0 or 1 depending on the sample data for a mediatitle b from the sample data in context of a media title i; and tr_(ib)is a take rate for the media title b in the context of the media titlei. The take rate for media title b in the context of media title i maybe calculated as described in Section 4.0 and 5.0. In a relatedembodiment, more independent variables may be used representing thedifferent type of take rates with respective coefficients.

Based on the regression of the sample data, the unknown coefficients maybe determined. Once the coefficients are calculated, the regressionfunction may be evaluated to calculate the probability of playing anymedia title in a context of the source media title, such as a mediatitle j in context of the media title i. The regression function may berepresented with the following equation:

${\log \frac{p_{ij}}{1 - p_{ij}}} = {\beta_{0} + {\beta_{1}\left( {tr}_{ij} \right)}}$

where p_(ij) is the calculated probability of user interaction with amedia title j in context of the media title i.

In a related embodiment, other statistical models, such as a Markovchain model, and more than one type of take rates may be used in alogistic regression model. The logistic regression function, similarly,first calculates the unknown coefficients β₁, β₂, β₃ and β₄ based on thesample data, and then, using the calculated coefficients, may calculatethe probability for any particular media title in context of the sourcemedia title. The logistic regression function may be represented by thefollowing equation:

${\log \left( \frac{p_{ij}}{1 - p_{ij}} \right)} = {{\beta_{1}\left( {MC}_{ij} \right)} + {\beta_{2}\left( F_{ij} \right)} + {\beta_{3}{tr}_{ij}} + {\beta_{4}{hpp}_{ij}}}$

where p_(ij) is the probability; MC_(ij) is the Markov chain probabilityfor a media title j in context of the source media title i, calculatedbased on techniques described in section 7.1; and F_(ij), tr_(ij),hpp_(ij) are normalized, adjusted and duration based take rates of themedia title j in the context of media title i and are calculated basedon techniques described in section 4.0 and 5.0.

8.0 Recommendation Engine Functional Overview

FIG. 6 illustrates a process of the recommendation engine providingtitle recommendations according to an embodiment.

At block 600, the recommendation engine 210 identifies one or morerecommended titles that are similar to a source media title that a userhas interacted previously. In an embodiment, the recommendation engine210 provides the source media title to the probability generator 208.The probability generator 208, in response, computes probabilities ofthe user interacting with other, similar, media titles in context of thesource media title. The recommendation engine 210 then selects one ormore recommended titles based on the similar media titles received fromthe probability generator 208. For example, the recommendation engine210 may select the N titles that have the highest probabilities to amedia title i. As another example, the recommendation engine 210 mayselect recommended titles that have similar titles to title i that areabove a particular threshold of probability.

At block 601, the recommendation engine 210 provides the one or morerecommended titles identified at block 600 to the CB 108. In anembodiment, the recommendation engine 210 sends one or more messages tothe CB 108 over the communications network 104 specifying the one ormore media titles. The CB 108, in response to receiving the one or morerecommended titles from the recommendation engine 210 displays therecommended titles to the user.

At block 602, the application server computer 102 receives userimpressions of media titles from the CB 108. In an embodiment, the CB108 tracks user actions on the CB 108 and records media titles that havebeen browsed over by users. The CB 108 then sends the information aboutthe browsed media titles as title impression data to the applicationserver computer 102 through the communication network 104. In responseto receiving the title impression data from the CB 108, the applicationserver computer 102 stores the data in the impression database 206.

At block 603, the application server computer 102 receives userinteractions with media titles from the CB 108. In an embodiment, the CB108 tracks user actions on the CB 108 and records media titles that havebeen interacted with by users. The CB 108 then sends the informationabout the user interacted media titles as title interaction data to theapplication server computer 102 through the communication network 104.In response to receiving the title interaction data from the CB 108, theapplication server computer 102 stores the data in the interactiondatabase 204.

At block 604, on a new request from the CB 108, the recommendationengine 210 identifies one or more recommended titles that are similar tothe source media title based on the newly received title impression andtitle interaction data. In an embodiment, similar to the step 601, therecommendation engine requests the probability generator 208 tocalculate the similarity probabilities of other media titles to thesource media title. The probability generator 208, in response, computesprobabilities of the user interacting with other media titles in contextof the source media title utilizing the received title interaction andimpression data in the title impression and interaction databases.

Each of the processes shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 may be implemented, invarious embodiments, using one or more computer programs, other softwareelements, firmware, or a combination thereof that are hosted in orexecuted by a general-purpose computer. Alternatively, applicationserver computer 102 may be configured as a special-purpose computer inwhich the processes of FIG. 5, FIG. 6 using special-purpose logic.

9.0 Title Recommendation Display

FIG. 3 illustrates an example menu for displaying the one or more titlesrecommended by the recommendation engine 210 according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 3, display 300 includes selection window 301, selection window302, selection window 321 associated with source title A and B, andgenre A respectively. Title 303 is included within selection window 301,titles 304, 303 are included within selection window 302, and titles303, 304 are included in selection window 321. Although only aparticular number of each element is depicted in FIG. 3, a practicalenvironment may have more or less of each of the aforementionedelements. For example, the display 300 may include hundreds of selectionwindows, each corresponding to a different genre or theme. As anotherexample, the display 300 may include only a single selection windowcontaining all recommended titles.

In an embodiment, the CB 108 sorts the one or more titles received fromthe recommendation engine 210 at block 601 of FIG. 6. The CB 108 maysort the one or more titles by context such as genre, as in selectionwindow 321 or based on previously interacted media titles, as inselection window 301 and 302, or any other applicable theme. The CB 108then displays the one or more titles in windows, such as selectionwindow 301 and selection window 302, corresponding to the context. Insome embodiments, the CB 108 is configured to allow the user to browseand select titles within each category via the selection windows. Inrelated embodiments, where the CB 108 and the MP 110 are an integratedcomponent or are connected through the communication network 104, shouldthe user select title 303 the MP 110 may begin playback of title 303. Asanother example, title 303 may be presented in the vicinity of one ormore options for displaying ratings associated with the title 303,viewing detailed information related to the title 303, adding the title303 to a queue, submitting a rating for title 303, etc.

In some embodiments, where the CB 108 and the MP 110 are an integratedcomponent or are connected through the communication network 104, the CB108 provides the display 300 at times when the user may be likely toselect a new title for playback or in response to certain user-initiatedevents. For example, the CB 108 after the user has selected a title maybegin playback of the title for the user. Once the CB 108 has finishedplayback of the title, the CB 108 may provide display 300 to guide theuser to titles similar to the title the user had just selected. Asanother example, the CB 108 may provide, in the vicinity of titles thatare available for playback, an option for displaying similar titles.When the option is selected by a user, the CB 108 provides display 300to guide the user to similar titles.

10.0 Alternative Contexts and Uses

Thus far, the techniques described above have been explained primarilyin the context of recommending media titles for a content distributionsystem. Specifically, the techniques described herein posit that a takerate signal of each media title may affect the content distributionsystem's recommendation for the each media title and thus affect themedia title arrangement in a recommendation display. Since a take ratesignal is derived from user impressions and interactions with thecontent distribution system, the media titles may be recommended to auser based on browsing patterns of other users of the contentdistribution system. Such model is not specific to content distributionsystems and may be applied to many different systems in many differentcontexts.

For example, in order to recommend products for purchase, a productrecommendation system may similarly collect user product browsing andpurchase history as a take rate signal. By following the techniquesdescribed herein, the product recommendation system can then recommendsimilar products based on the take rate signal.

In the abstract, as long as the system has an ability to track andrecord the impressions and interactions of the items or services thesystem offers, the system may capture a take rate signal for thoseofferings. Accordingly, the system may use the take rate signal tocalculate various take rates using techniques described herein. Then,the system may similarly utilize various statistical models to improvethe recommendations of the items or services to users of the system,again by using techniques described herein.

11.0 Implementation Mechanisms—Hardware Overview

According to one embodiment, the techniques described herein areimplemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. Thespecial-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform thetechniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one ormore application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed toperform the techniques, or may include one or more general purposehardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant toprogram instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or acombination. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combinecustom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming toaccomplish the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may bedesktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices,networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wiredand/or program logic to implement the techniques.

For example, FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates a computersystem 700 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.Computer system 700 includes a bus 702 or other communication mechanismfor communicating information, and a hardware processor 704 coupled withbus 702 for processing information. Hardware processor 704 may be, forexample, a general purpose microprocessor.

Computer system 700 also includes a main memory 706, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 702for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor704. Main memory 706 also may be used for storing temporary variables orother intermediate information during execution of instructions to beexecuted by processor 704. Such instructions, when stored innon-transitory storage media accessible to processor 704, rendercomputer system 700 into a special-purpose machine that is customized toperform the operations specified in the instructions.

Computer system 700 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 708 orother static storage device coupled to bus 702 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 704. A storage device 710,such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus702 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 700 may be coupled via bus 702 to a display 712, such asa cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user.An input device 714, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupledto bus 702 for communicating information and command selections toprocessor 704. Another type of user input device is cursor control 716,such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to processor 704 and forcontrolling cursor movement on display 712. This input device typicallyhas two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and asecond axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in aplane.

Computer system 700 may implement the techniques described herein usingcustomized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/orprogram logic which in combination with the computer system causes orprograms computer system 700 to be a special-purpose machine. Accordingto one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computersystem 700 in response to processor 704 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions contained in main memory 706. Suchinstructions may be read into main memory 706 from another storagemedium, such as storage device 710. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 706 causes processor 704 toperform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions.

The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitorymedia that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine tooperation in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprisenon-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes,for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 710.Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 706. Commonforms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magneticdata storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium,any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.

Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction withtransmission media. Transmission media participates in transferringinformation between storage media. For example, transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise bus 702. Transmission media can also take the formof acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-waveand infra-red data communications.

Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequencesof one or more instructions to processor 704 for execution. For example,the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk or solidstate drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 700 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitterto convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector canreceive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 702. Bus 702 carries the data tomain memory 706, from which processor 704 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 706 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 710 either before or afterexecution by processor 704.

Computer system 700 also includes a communication interface 718 coupledto bus 702. Communication interface 718 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 720 that is connected to alocal network 722. For example, communication interface 718 may be anintegrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellitemodem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to acorresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communicationinterface 718 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also beimplemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 718sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals thatcarry digital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 720 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 720 mayprovide a connection through local network 722 to a host computer 724 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 726.ISP 726 in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the“Internet” 728. Local network 722 and Internet 728 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 720and through communication interface 718, which carry the digital data toand from computer system 700, are example forms of transmission media.

Computer system 700 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 720 and communicationinterface 718. In the Internet example, a server 730 might transmit arequested code for an application program through Internet 728, ISP 726,local network 722 and communication interface 718.

The received code may be executed by processor 704 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 710, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to numerous specific details that may vary fromimplementation to implementation. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense. The sole and exclusive indicator of the scope of the invention,and what is intended by the applicants to be the scope of the invention,is the literal and equivalent scope of the set of claims that issue fromthis application, in the specific form in which such claims issue,including any subsequent correction.

12.0 Extensions and Alternatives

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to numerous specific details that may vary fromimplementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicatorof what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be theinvention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in thespecific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequentcorrection. Any definitions expressly set forth herein for termscontained in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as usedin the claims. Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature,advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim shouldlimit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawingsare, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: transmitting, to a plurality of browsers of client computers, an ordered set of titles from a library of titles; receiving, from the plurality of browsers, impressions data indicating a plurality of impressions associated with a first title in the ordered set of titles, wherein a given impression in the plurality of impressions corresponds to an affirmative input from browsing over the first title in a first browser in the plurality of browsers, wherein the affirmative input includes a user input indicating hovering over the first title or a user input indicating scrolling over the first title; based on the impressions data, determining a location of the first title in a second ordered set of titles from the library of titles; and transmitting the second ordered set of titles to a browser on a client computer for display.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a total number of interactions with the first title.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles in based on a total number of impressions of the first title.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a shared context of interactions and the plurality of impressions associated with the first title.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on durations of interactions with the first title.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a frequency of occurrence of the first title in the ordered sets of titles.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a number of consecutive interactions with the first title after an interaction with a particular source title included in the second ordered set of titles.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second ordered set of titles is related to a source title based on a plurality of stored probability values, and wherein each probability value in the plurality of probability values represents, for each title of the second ordered set of titles, a likelihood of selecting the title after viewing the source title.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising calculating, based on the impressions data, and from the plurality of stored probability values, a particular probability value corresponding to the first title to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising calculating the particular probability value based on at least one of a Markov chain statistical model or a logistic regression statistical model.
 11. A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: transmit, to a plurality of browsers of client computers, an ordered set of titles from a library of titles; receive, from the plurality of browsers, impressions data indicating a plurality of impressions associated with a first title in the ordered set of titles, wherein a given impression in the plurality of impressions corresponds to an affirmative input from browsing over the first title in a first browser in the plurality of browsers, wherein the affirmative input includes at least a user input indicating hovering over the first title or a user input of scrolling over the first title, based on the impressions data, determine a location of the first title in a second ordered set of titles from the library of titles; and transmit the second ordered set of titles to a browser on a client computer for display.
 12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a total number of interactions with the first title.
 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a total number of impressions of the first title without interactions with the first title.
 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a shared context of interactions and the plurality of impressions associated with the first title.
 15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on durations of interactions with the first title.
 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on a frequency of occurrence of the first title in the ordered sets of titles.
 17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles based on number of consecutive interactions with the first title after an interaction with a particular source title related with the second ordered set of titles.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the ordered set of titles is related to a source title based on a plurality of stored probability values, and wherein each probability value in the plurality of probability values represents, for each title of the second ordered set of titles, a likelihood of selecting the title after viewing the source title.
 19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to calculate, based on the impressions data and the plurality of stored probability values, a particular probability value corresponding to the first title to determine the location of the first title in the second ordered set of titles to display in the browser of the client computer.
 20. A computer system, comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processor executing the instructions to: transmit, to a plurality of browsers of client computers, an ordered set of titles from a library of titles; receive, from the plurality of browsers, impressions data indicating a plurality of impressions associated with a first title in the ordered set of titles, wherein a given impression in the plurality of impressions corresponds to an affirmative input from browsing over the first title in a first browser in the plurality of browsers, wherein the affirmative input includes at least a user input indicating hovering over the first title or a user input of scrolling over the first title, based on the impressions data, determine a location of the first title in a second ordered set of titles from the library of titles; and transmit the second ordered set of titles to a browser on a client computer for display. 